Welcome to the Kingfisher Report. This is where you'll find the latest news on what's happening up at the lodge in Naden Harbour. |
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September 1st Report Posted By QCL - Wed Sep 1st, 2010 - Filed under: General  Late season fishing is yielding some great results as we approach the final week of the summer of 2010. Beautiful, fat northern Coho are the staple these days with a nice mix of Chinook, Lingcod and Halibut filling in the gaps. There is something really special about these silver Princes of the salmon family; their aggressive behaviour and athletic nature brings an extra thrill to any angler that hooks one. We are seeing good numbers of 14 - 16 pounders coming to the dock, usually taken slightly offshore in the upper levels of 150 - 220 feet of water. Lots of Halibut are being taken out in the lower levels of the same water so it s a good combination fishery. Back close to the rocks and the kelp, anglers are still finding some hefty Chinooks. Hans Klassen boated a big 42 pound Tyee on Monday, mooching a cut plug off the outside of Bird 2. Randy Maley was hitting home runs at Bird 2 on Sunday as well, fishing with guide Mike McLennan. Anxious to catch his first Tyee, Randy battled a big strong Chinook off the kelp bed for a half hour before Mike finally slipped the net beneath a beauty that they taped out to 40 pounds before releasing it. Good job Randy! The QCL 50 Pounder Club added its newest member on Sunday when Bruce Newsome boated a handsome Chinook that measured 52 pounds before releasing it. Bruce was fishing an "Oil slick" with QCL guide Peter Dick at Bird 2 when the big fish hit. Interestingly Peter was lamenting the previous evening that, while he had caught lots of fish in the forties, he had yet to crack fifty and really wanted to do that before the season wraps up next week. Petes resolve sure paid off with Bruce as the benefactor - Congratulations to both of you! Thanks for letting that big fish go! The weekend weather is to swing from Southwest to Northwest by Friday so maybe we ll get away from all this rain we ve enjoyed this week!- Comments (0) |
August 28th Report Posted By QCL - Sat Aug 28th, 2010 - Filed under: General
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August 21st Report Posted By QCL - Sat Aug 21st, 2010 - Filed under: General  The 2010 fishing season continued its strong performance over the weekend with good fish numbers and great weather. While the salmon action slowed down somewhat on Saturday the Tyee bell was still ringing. The flat water and blue sky combination provided one of those dream days to be out on the grounds. Some anglers took advantage and ventured offshore to watch the Humpbacks feeding steadily on needlefish and krill, a totally awesome experience that really should not be missed. Boats are also hunting offshore for the Coho which seem to be elusive right now. It is that time of year when we look for tide lines out in deeper water for the bulk of the salmon catch. The kelp beds and the points are turning out some really nice fish but the time in between is getting longer. Gonzalo De Braganza took the lead early on Friday, choosing to release the biggest salmon of the weekend, a chrome bright 45 pounder at Parker Point. Great job! Tony Vigini boated a nice 38 while Preston Kelts managed a 33 and a 38 pounder on his first day. Tia Walsh celebrated a beautiful 37 lb Chinook on Saturday and Brent Lobson came to the scale with a fat 40 pounder. The perfect water conditions had everyone fishing Halibut and Tom Levesque found a 69 pound reward Saturday with guide Derek Poitras out off of Eagle Rock. Coho action has been spotty but Tom also managed a 16 pounder first thing in the morning at Bird 2. The weather forecast for the coming week is a mixed bag starting with some Southeasterlies Monday morning swinging to South and eventually West by mid week. Tide changes will peak early in the week with moderate swings of 10 to 12 feet, enough to set up some good tide lines for those offshore salmon hunting trips! - Comments (0) |
August 18th Report Posted By QCL - Thu Aug 19th, 2010 - Filed under: General  With sunrise coming a little later these days there is a certain urgency in the dining room at breakfast. The staff is hustling just to keep eggs in the pan! Everyone wants to be on the water as soon as possible to capitalize on an awesome morning bite. We are getting Chinooks just a little farther from shore this week, usually down about 40 feet in 140 feet of water. That is typical for this time of year and we expect that will continue in the coming weeks. But we are still getting some very impressive catches in around the kelp beds, particulalrly at Bird 2, Parker Point and in the tide rip up at Shag Rock. First timer Andrea Dietel and her husband Chris, fishing with guide Mike Borelli have had a great time catching Tyees - a 35 & 37 on Monday, 32 & 48 on Wednesday. Jeff Lund boated a beauty 40 pounder early in the week while Jessica Eussen, fishing with her dad Remy and guide Mike McLennan, landed and released an awesome 43 pounder off Parker Point. Well done Jessica! Burmah Martin has 3 big Tyees so far in her trip with 39, 40 and a 33 pounder which she chose to release. Lots of fish in the mid 30s are keeping the Tyee bell ringing every evening. The Coho are scattered throughout the grounds and we re seeing some big fish showing up now with Jeff Riedesel boating 15 and 17 pounders and Steve Stone found a 16. The average Coho is still around 12 pounds and we re seeing schools of Pinks coming and going all the time. The weather swung nicely from northwest to westerly by Wednesday which made the fishing grounds quite comfortable, especially east of Klashwun Point. The weekend forecast is calling for mainly light to moderate northwesterlies to continue with mixed skies and temperatures cooling off a bit to the mid teens. The tides calmed right down this week and will start to build again towards a peak late next week. - Comments (0) |
August 14th Report Posted By QCL - Sat Aug 14th, 2010 - Filed under: General  It really feels like summer these days as QCL guests and staff enjoy some of those bright sunny days with nice calm seas. When conditions are like this it seems that you can see so much more out on the fishing grounds. A Humpback whale breaching offshore gets noticed by everyone and so does a flock of birds on a bait ball! We are following those bait balls now in the hunt for schools of Coho that are the favourite of many August anglers. Lots of fish in the low to mid teens are taken these days and we should soon be seeing some of those 17-18 pounders! Over this beautiful sunny weekend anglers have stayed busy catching Chinooks and Coho at all the normal fishing areas from Cape Edenshaw out to Green Pt..
Bird 1 and Bird 2 have been producing consistently throughout the day despite large tide swings and those who love Klashwun are finding excellent results following the rip tide towards Shag Rock. Anchovy/flasher combinations are deadly while whole herring and the Super Bait are both producing well. The best depths around the Birds are
still 30 - 40 feet while the northwest shore seems to be 60 - 70. The Tyee count remains strong although the numbers of really big fish over 40 pounds has
dropped off for now. Greg McCoach boated a nice 44 pounder Friday but it wasn t quite enough to beat Joe Phillips 46. Paul Reid released a beauty that taped out to 37 pounds - great job Paul! Ross Wilmots 45 was the big fish on Saturday. Nice flat water on Sunday should see lots of boats offshore after Halibut and schooling Coho. The weather forecast for this week is a bit of a mixed bag, dominated by this Northwesterly system which should see mainly sunny days and a chance of showers later in the week. Tides will continue to moderate from the big peaks we saw last week. - Comments (0) |
August 11th Report Posted By QCL - Wed Aug 11th, 2010 - Filed under: General
Although the sunshine has never really materialized this week, QCL anglers don t mind as they have kept quite busy with great fishing! These northwesterly weather systems have not been typical but they continue to push bait into the sound and the salmon are right there along with it. We had another 21 Tyees reported on Tuesday and a dozen Wednesday with the largest being a beautiful 51 pound trophy for long time Driftwood guest Stan Saibil, taken on a whole herring at Klashwun Point. Congratulations Stan and welcome to the 50 Pounder Club! Derald Walker released a nice 40 pounder on Monday, while Peter Nicholson released a 35 & a 42 on Tuesday and Henderson Tuten let a big Chinook go that taped out to 44 pounds! Wednesday saw another batch of Tyees released including a 39 for Ross Bhappu and Brian Hendricks, catching his first tyees ever and opting to release two beauties, a 39 in the morning and a 42 in the afternoon, all taken in the back bay east of Bird Rock with QCL Matt Burr. Well done guys! A couple of nice big Halibut came to the dock Wednesday - a 40 pounder for Gary Wood and a 55 for Brian Dolan. The tides peaked yesterday and should start to moderate again through the weekend. Winds are forecast to stay moderate northwesterly and northerly through Sunday and slacking off for Monday. Nice clear sunny skies are forecast but they have been elusive so far this summer! We ll take what we get. It has been a great week for Catch & Release as many anglers are choosing to release big tyee Chinooks, some choosing to keep fish in the 20 - 25 pound class for the freezer. We certainly find that the filet of a 22 lb Chinook is about perfect as its even thickness and pleasing texture are everything you could want for a salmon dinner! Of the 21 Tyees boated on Tuesday, 12 were released and of Wednesdays 12, 8 were turned back. While there are differing opinions out there around the benefits of Catch & Release we encourage all anglers to give it some thought and make informed decisions for themselves. We all want the salmon populations to be healthy and strong for the years to come and it starts with awareness. There are many wonderful organizations - large & small - up and down the coast who are working hard to nurture salmon stocks and they all need our support. Our thanks go out to the many QCL guests who opt to add a donation for salmon conservation onto their trip invoice; it s one way we can help out and give back. - Comments (0) |
August 8th Report Posted By QCL - Sun Aug 8th, 2010 - Filed under: General  With the seas softening to light westerlies on the weekend, QCL anglers spread out over the whole fishing grounds once again. While fishing had been very good from Bird 2 east to the Mazzaredos, Klashwun Point, Eagle Rock and Green Point are now yielding excellent catches of big Chinook and Coho salmon. The Tyee bell was ringing steadily on Friday as 22 big fish were recorded on the daily catch board; a good number of them being releases. Most of these were in the mid-30s but Alan Archibald landed a 40 pounder and Matt Knoll, fishing at Cape Edenshaw with QCL guide Kirt Holland, released 2 big Tyees measuring 39 and 48 pounds. Well done guys! Brad Sayers also turned back a big Spring weighing 38 pounds on Friday and on Saturday Jack Addington released a beautiful 40 pounder. Fifteen more Tyees were recorded including a 42 for Warren Elmer and a 45 for Stephen Cain. The big fish of the trip so far, however, was boated at Edenshaw as well Saturday by Tim Stallings, fishing with QCL guide Raiden Bresch. An anchovy/teaser head combo fished tight to the kelp at 41 feet did the trick and Tim soon had his hands full! While they had decided to release the big trophy fish, once it came to the boat they determined it would not likely survive so Tim is going to enjoy lots of beautiful smoked salmon in the coming months! Coho fishing has been steady throughout the grounds with the average size now getting up above 10 pounds and many in the low to mid teens starting to show up. Bring out the fly rods folks, things are about to get really interesting! Halibut action has been reliable as usual with easy catches coming between 160 and 180 feet in most fishing areas. The weather forecast for the coming week returns to moderate Northwesterlies - bringing some sunshine and warmer temperatures back to Haida Gwaii. Tides are peaking mid-week with 15-16 foot swings daily so these will figure strongly into the water and fishing conditions. - Comments (0) |
August 6th Report Posted By QCL - Fri Aug 6th, 2010 - Filed under: General .jpg) It has been a big week at QCL with some big water and some really big fish! Anglers concentrated on the waters from the Mazzaredo Islands out to Bird Rock 2 and despite some strong northwesterly winds and roily seas they kept catching fish everywhere they went! Sustained northwesterlies tend to drive the mass of bait into funnel-shaped Virago Sound where migrating salmon enjoy a feeding frenzy and QCL fishing boats find success. Veteran QCL angler Rick Pointon celebrated Monday with a 48 pounder, first-timer Cassandra Frank boated a 42 and John Simons chose to release a big chrome Tyee which taped out to 42 pounds on Tuesday! Well done! Out with veteran guide Dan Matthews, Al Jenkins and his fishing buddy Mike Densky had a great day Tuesday with Mike boating a pair of 33s and Al getting himself into the QCL 50 Pounder Club with a beautiful 53 at Parker Point! The Tyee trend continued on Wednesday with several more fish over 30 and a few over 40, with Ryan McShannon s 43, Austin Frank s 45 and Jessica Ouellet s 47 pound prizes causing quite a stir on the dock. The big news of the week however was an incredible Chinook landed by Monet Forbes, fishing with her partner David Lawr and veteran QCL guide Kirt Holland. Kirt said the fish slammed the anchovy bait hard and headed straight north for Shag Rock, dead into heavy seas; Monet reeled continuously for the first 15 minutes as Kirt chased the big salmon down with the boat. After another 40 minutes of intense tug-of-war action Kirt managed to get a net around their prize and Monet could finally let go of the rod. They hurried to get a measurement and a couple of photos before Kirt carefully lifted the giant over the side and spent several minutes reviving the big beauty then watching it swim away. The photos speak for themselves but the numbers scored this Chinook out to 78.56 pounds. Congratulations Monet, Kirt and David for such a rare catch under very tough conditions! A special thanks to Monet for choosing to let this one go in the hope that this big salmon can make it back to the river to complete its life journey! That makes this salmon the second largest in QCL s 20 year history after an 82 pounder taken by Steve Johnson exactly 10 years ago to the day on August 4th 2000. Let s hope to see more of these in the years to come! - Comments (0) |
July 31st Report Posted By QCL - Sat Jul 31st, 2010 - Filed under: General  Great fishing action continues to dominate the news here at QCL. Chinook catches have been consistently strong with lots of Tyees in the mix. Rupert Marshall had a 3 Tyee-day, releasing 46 lb. and 31 lb. Chinooks and keeping a 32. Calgary angler Drew MacGregor turned back his biggest fish ever, a 42 lb beauty boated at Bird Rock. The annual Rule Fishing Derby wrapped up with the big money going to 2 teenage anglers. Tyler Hautamaa weighed in a perfect trophy Chinook at 51 pounds only to be nudged from top spot by Liam Donohues 56 pounder which he opted to release. Great work guys and Congratulations! This weekend we ve seen lots of beautiful fish in the low 30s but there have been some giants among them. Claude Fontaine boated a 41 pounder while long time Driftwood angler Roy Jeffrey found a 41 waiting in the kelp at Bird 2. While the northwesterlies continue to dominate the weather and the fishing they have let up enough for some boats to explore the eastern waters around Cape Edenshaw. Veteran QCL angler Steve Rule found his pot of gold Saturday morning while fishing with Rob Clough who is still having fun with Brad s Super Bait Cut Plug. It was certainly the right choice as a bright silver torpedo charged out of the kelp, nailed the plug and headed for Alaska. With the reel spinning down to the backing they had to drive the boat to catch up! Twenty minutes later Rob slipped the net beneath a bright silver salmon that would measure out to just over 62 pounds! The big Tyee actually revived pretty quickly and returned to the safety of the kelp. Well done guys! Thats a great fish. The weather outlook for the coming week is more Northwesterly winds and mainly sunny skies. The summer temperatures of 18 - 20 degrees are here for a few days and staff are soaking it up! Tides are moderate with only about an 8 foot swing which will help reduce the rough chop as the tide ebbs against the wind. Look for more great fishing reports this week!
Sometimes you just can t get enough of a good thing! With QCL anglers enjoying such great fishing this season we are seeing quite a few of them returning for a second visit! There are still a few spaces open in August, especially for smaller parties, and our Friday / Monday travel schedule works well for those who need to book their playtime around their work. There are quite a large number of fishermen who have been up here several times and have considered bringing their spouses up to experience it for themselves. Well, we have the solution! Consider the QCL Romantic Dream Catch Weekend - August 27 to 30 - featuring a host of special activities besides great fishing. We have put together special wine-pairing menus for the weekend, the Twin Creek Spa is featuring his & hers treatments and every couple will find a nice gift basket full of treats in their room. It s the perfect cap to a phenomenal summer fishing season and we have priced it to celebrate with you and yours! Call our office at 1.800.688.8959 to book your spot! - Comments (0) |
July 28th Report Posted By QCL - Wed Jul 28th, 2010 - Filed under: General  QCL guests are definitely enjoying prime time fishing these days with good solid Chinook numbers daily and a high incidence of larger fish in the mix. Moderate to strong Northwesterlies have dominated the weather pattern so the fishing effort has been focused on the waters east and south of Bird Rock 2. Bird 1, Cape Naden and the Mazzaredo Islands have provided excellent fishing throughout the day, particularly for Chinooks. While we are seeing steady catches of Coho, the bulk of these salmon are likely further from shore right now and anglers have not ventured out so far this week. Winds have settled back to moderate westerlies as of Wednesday and lots of boats will be out there looking for Halibut and Coho Thursday. Big Tyees are regularly being teased from the kelp at Bird 2, Cape Naden and the Mazz with both weighted rods and riggers running anchovies. Catch & Release honours go to a number of anglers this week who elected to let those big fish have a chance to get back to the river. Doug Birch released a beautiful 48 pounder as did Jason Carpenter on Sunday. Marjan Hozjan joined his family in the big fish department, releasing a big Chinook at the Mazzaredos which taped out to 53 pounds while his son Rob released his second 40+ of the week, a 46 on Sunday! QCL Chef Ryan MacKay dropped a line solo at the Mazz on Wednesday and almost instantly was hit by a freight train Tyee that ran him around the boat 4 times before coming to the net. Ryan figured the fish to be in the high forties as he revived and released the big silver prize. Well done all! We definitely need to do what we can to ensure that we continue to enjoy such an incredible fishery in years to come! The weekend weather is calling for Northwest winds to continue right though mid-week with mixed skies - we aren t seeing the solid blue we expect with this wind pattern - but I imagine it helps the fishing so we are good with that! Tides peaked last weekend so we have moderate swings through the next few days, helping to keep the action going throughout the day! It s all good! - Comments (0) |
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